Temperature controlled valve



Jan. 19, 1943. w CLIFFORD 2,308,861

TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED VALVE Filed Feb. 6, 1940 IHM H" Wii'nes 4 Inventor Patented Jan. 19, 1943 TEMPERATURE CONTRDLLED VALVE Walter B. Clifford, Boston, Mass., assignor to Clifford Manufacturing 00., Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Application February 6, 1940, Serial No. 317,543

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to temperature controlled valves, and more particularly to valves of this type which are designed for actuation through small diflerences in operating pressures. Such valves are commonly used to control cirpredetermined temperature range.

when not in use.

yieldable surface to a hard seat.

36 which mechanically locks the head to the housing. The head is provided with a bore 38 communicating with a hollow capillary 40 which may extend to any remote point.

As will be evident to those skilled in the art, the system, including the interior of the capillary Secured and rigidly As indicated To make this The compensating bellows 46 at its 5 culation of a heating or cooling medium within and the interior of the bellows in free communia region which is to be maintained within a cation therewith, may be filled with any suitable Such valves thermostatic fluid for causing temperature are commonly controlled from a point sufficien changes in the region in which the capillary is -ly remote to be influenced only by the temperalocated to be reflected in changes in pressure of ture within the chamber to be controlled. the thermostatic fluid. I

The particular embodiment with which the in- The lower or movable end of the bellow m y vention is concerned represents a valve of this b pp y e e t t Closure as ndicated type designed for controlling the flow of hot in Fig. W c P j into Proximity to t e water or the like to maintain a predetermined head at the fixed end and limits the contracting temperature range within a vehicle body, the movement of the bellows. operation of the valve being controlled froma mounted upon the movable end of the bellows remote point under the influ n of th t mis a stem 44 which extends lengthwise of the perature within the body. The valve m t b valve structure and is connected at its opposite compact in form with a. ru ged structure and nd o a p in ellows 46. capable of a complete shut-oil of circulation in t dreWing,-the10Wer connecting end of the The valve must be also capa,- stem is threaded into an internally threaded ble of modulating, that is, varying the flow of head 48 secured to the upper or movable end of heating water therethrough as temperature cont compensating bellows is Compenditions demand, rather than Operating on full sating bellows interconnected with the actuating open or closed position in hi h th h t water bellows 26 causes pressure difierences within the is either circulating freely or is completely shut housing e to fluctuations in P essure of the controlled water or fluid to be balanced out, these I have developed a valve which accurately convariations in pressure, s will vi a t tro ls the temperature within the vehicle body 30 equally p e t o bellows. independently of external influences such, for compensation Possible the W be ows must be example; as variation of pressureof the hot wa the Same e die-meter, and Provided w ter due to variation in the speed of the circuapproximately the e number of o in lating pump or impeller which may be employed, order that the surface presented to the other- In the accompanying drawing illustrating the Wise unbalanced p e shall be the ame in preferred form of the invention, Fig. 1 is a seceach case. tion in elevation of a complete valve embodying Oppo fi d end is provided with an at the features of the invention; and Fig. 2 is a t ng flange 50 which is connected and herdetail illustrating a. modified form of valve disk metically sealed o t e lower port on of the houswhich may be employed presenting a soft or Z- The stem 44 has mounted thereon a liquid In t m t t embodiment of t m control valve cooperating with a fixed seat. tion, the valve is shown as provided with adrawn AS indicated P rly n 1, this seat is metal housing or body portion comprising essenformed e sen ially by an inturned flange 62 upon tially an upper portion 20 telescoping ov r a 45 the intermediate portion of the housing 22, this intermediate portion 22, which in turn is conflange having attached thereto a seat rin 64 of nected to a bottom portion 24. The upper porbrass, bronze or other suitable material, gention receives and houses an actuator bellows 26 erally of r ct Cross-Section, Presenting anchored at its upper end through a head 2am an edge contact at 66 to the valve. The disk which the bellows is soldered at 29. The head a ve C op with the e t n ated at 5! is reduced at 30 and passes through the upper as formed of brass, bronz r the e, is p end of the housing 20, being soldered or sealed Vided with 8 tapered Seating Surface 59 and is thereto at 32. The upper end of the head 28 is mounted p n t e stem 44 in such a manner threaded at 34 and provided with a cap nut t at it may freely tilt upon the. stem and r ake uniform contact throughout the periphr of the seat. This is accomplished by providing the stem with a generally spherical or ball-like protuberance I with a diaphragm 12 of Neoprene or similar rubber-like vulcanizable substance bonded at its outer periphery to the valve disk and at its inner periphery to the ball 10, the latter being then received on and secured to the stem, the diaphragm being supported below by the wall of the valve disk and above by a contact plate 1|, mechanically locked in place by a snap ring I6.

It will be observed that with this construction leakage through the valve is effectually sealed, whereas the valve itself is free to tilt within a limited range with relation to the stem and cause full contact of the seating surfaces, which are composed of metal properly adapted for this purpose. As the rubber-like diaphragm in and of itself presents no considerable resistance to tilting, the seating of the disk with respect to the seat may be accomplished under the influence of relatively slight pressures. Furthermore, this tilting or swiveling of the valve with respect to the stem compensates for any slight misalignment of the stem with relation to the seat, whether due to the structure of the valve itselfor to slight irregularities in movement of the two'bellows to which the stem is connected at oppositeends. It is important to secure a properly balanced condition of the valve as a whole that the mean effective area of the upper and lower bellows which is the same should equal the efiective port area of the valve.

The valve may beadjusted for different temperature regulation by adjustment of an opposing coiled spring 00 introduced between the head 40 and an adjustable adjustment 82. This abutment as indicated more particularly in Fig. 1, is in the form of a tubular member slidingly supported within an outer hexed tube 84 and internally threaded at 86 to receive a threaded adjusting stem 88. This stem projects through the lower end of the housing and may be provided with a knurled nut at 90, through which it is rotated, rotation of the stem due to the fact that the tubular seat is held against rotation causing a rising and falling of the seat with a change in position of the length of the spring.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2, the valve disk and seat are somewhat modified to present the combination of a hard seat with a soft or yielding valve surface. In this type of structure a seating ring I00 i provided with a curved seating rib I02 designed to be engaged by the surface of a vulcanized rubber-like material such as a sheet of Neoprene indicated at I04. This vulcanizable sheet is bonded with the ball-like protuberance 10 at its inner margin, and is engaged between an upper disk I08 and a lower and smaller disk I08 provided with a depending flange or petticoat H0. With this structure, as will be evident, engagement is between the surface of the Neoprene and the rib I02, the disk being permitted to tip by yielding of the Neoprene diaphragm with respect to the ball I0. It will be noted, furthermore, that inboth types of valve due to the petticoat IIO as shown in Fig. 2 and to the tapered surface II! on the valve shown in Fig.1, movement of the valve toward and from its seat serves to control the flow of fluid therethrough in a manner to modulate the flow rather than to present either an open or closed position.

What is claimed is:

In a valve of the type employing a valve disk' having a vave stem extending therethrough and operatively engaging devices on either side of the valve-disk, a tiltable fluid-tight connection between the disk and stem comprising a ball sealed to the valve stem and seated in the valve disk to impart .positive bodily movement thereto upon lengthwise movement of the stem while permitting relative tilting movement, and an annulus of resilient material bonded along its inner mar gin to the ball and adapted adjacent its outer margin to engage the valve seat to provide a resilient seating surface.

WALTER B. CLIFFORD. 

